Trees for life

31st March
Clue in today's Daily Telegraph Toughie Crossword: "Sign, one defining the WI?" (4). The WI often features in clues. I suppose there are a lot of words that contain w and i within them for anagrams.If you haven't already got the answer, it is "omen".

21st March
A busy day for some of us because an early start was needed to get down to High Wycombe for the Trees for Life event. In spite of last minute worries and panics it was a success.We could have done with more members attending: the response was disappointing considering that many members pay lip service to the need to conserve our trees and preservation had featured in the short list of resolutions for this year's AGM in Liverpool in June.Right at the beginning we were asked to imagine our world without trees. It presents a horrific picture if one can imagine it at all.
The four speakers all made good presentations which prompted many questions from the audience. Dr Helen Read talked about ancient trees and her work in Burnham Beeches; Martin Woolner described the work of the Woodland Trust; Alan French reported on the setting up of Community Orchards and Mohammad Rafiq represented the Rainforest Alliance.The information available in the meeting room covered related topics and included an interesting display from the Wycombe Museum on wood crafts.I hope some members will have been inspired to take advantage of at least one of these organisations because our trees need all the protection they can get.
A local farmer to us has cut down 19 middle-aged healthy trees along the roadside and the BCC Tree Preservation Officer, although alerted halfway through the devastation, could do nothing to stop it happening. I must admit that I had thought that that was what his job specification was all about but apparently not so.After listening to Helen Read I went north and was looking at old trees with new eyes, studying evidence of pollarding, height of flood levels and occupation by mosses and lichen.I even went so far as to force the grandchildren to look at the trees around them in more detail in the hope that when they were under threat there would be someone still around to say, "Hang on a minute! These trees are special."

In the evening the local WIs came together for the Spring Group Meeting where we heard from Susan Howe talking about her experiences working for John Betjeman and other celebrities. She was a very amusing speaker who had been snapped up by our Group Convenor after her invitation to speak at the Bucks Council Meeting a couple of years ago. The competition was for a teddybear which resulted in nearly 50 bears coming to the meeting---all shapes and sizes and in all states of disrepair. It just shows that we WI members are sentimental people who cannot bring ourselves to get rid of our childhood toys. A trip to the Bank of England is planned for the summer which should prove popular. It is always pleasant for the WI members to get together and hear what we are all doing. This year's reports revealed that the WI is gaining members which is heartening for us all.